A scarlet flower blooms
by QueenDeFairies
Summary: After eight years away, Erza Scarlet finally returns to her home town : Magnolia. She has to attend public school for the first time. Friendships will be tested, as well as the world of romance. How do you balance school with drama? Will Erza discover herself? And will she finally discover the truth of her past?
1. Chapter 1

I plan to make this a long fanfiction including most of the popular fairy tail ships. It is set in an alternate universe, without magic and based in high school. I want to show a lot of growth and development for the characters as it goes along so I hope I do well!

Enjoy the fanfiction and I'd love to hear your feedback~

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• **Back to Magnolia** •

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Once upon a time, Erza Scarlet lived a happy life.

Okay, maybe her life wasn't always happy and it certainly didn't get off to a good start, but that's beside the point. Since being adopted, she had lived happily in Onibus town. She was home schooled and learned lots, watched the theatre productions which were a regular occurrence in Onibus and learnt self defence. Maybe she had no friends and maybe she didn't know how to talk to her adoptive parents or people for that matter, but she was alive! And... well... Very resistant to change. The problem was, Erza's foster father had gotten a new job in a town called Magnolia and her foster mother (who was a nurse) would be working at Magnolia General Hospital. Of course this meant that Erza would have to move school. Moving school meant meeting new people, she had never been good with people. Possibly because she had avoided people ever since she had been adopted at the age of eight. But the past is the past for a reason. The red head had to look forward and so she did.

The train ride was four hours long and Erza felt aches in her muscles, but she didn't complain. To get one thing straight, her adoptive parents were not poor. They were okay with money, but this new job meant that it would never be a stretch to pay the bills on time. Both 'parents' would be getting a large pay rise in their new jobs, so moving wasn't an issue. The only problem was, there were no good home schoolers in Magnolia. Erza would have to go to public school. Her parents thought it was time for that anyway. Magnolia High was a high achieving school. It had something for every kind of person, Erza had to admit that the school website looked promising. But the people. Worry started to kick in for the red head, but she kept her cool. She had another week to settle into her new house before the school year kicked in.

Erza walked behind her parents who were trying to find the uniform shop. Seriously, how many schools had uniform? Well... Erza had never been to school so she didn't know.

Finally, they found it. The shop bell rang as they entered and the shop was filled with blazers, skirts, pants and more. It was a small shop, so Erza could clearly see the other family in the shop. A boy with blue hair stood behind a small lady and he was too busy looking at his phone to listen to her. Erza stared at him, feeling a sense of recognition. At that moment he looked up and saw her staring, she blushed and looked down quickly. It was deeply embarrassing for her to meet new people, eye contact was a killer. What if this boy went to her school? He'd seen her looking his way, how awkward she had made it. Or perhaps the girl was letting her thoughts go overdrive again...

After time seemed to be mocking her with its slow pace, the right size of uniform had been bough for Erza. Her mother and father (as they liked to be called) were laughing about the expense of uniform. The blue haired boy was buying the same uniform as her, so he was clearly going to the same school. She couldn't shake the familiarity of him though, then again this is the town where Erza lived for eight years. She could've seen him once as children.

Erza thought their new house was nice. The old one in Onibus was comfortable and she had her own room, but this time she had her own floor. The house had a basement, first floor, second floor and third floor (which was once a loft). The best thing about it all was this : Erza had been allowed to have the bedroom on the third floor. It was huge. She had plenty of space, despite all of the boxes lying around and to top it all off - she had her own bathroom. It had a bath that could fit about three people, as well as a shower, toilet and sink. Erza had never felt such luxury. She thought back to a small room with two beds, her bed being set on fire and her few possessions being smashed. A shudder went though her body and she focused on the here and now. The past would not haunt her, not anymore. Being back in Magnolia meant there may be more chances for bad memories to occur, but Erza was strong now.

Of course the first day of school would be daunting for anyone, but Erza had never been to school before. She had never really spoken to anyone her age since she was younger. As she was dropped off by the school gates, she felt her heartbeat getting faster. . The main building was huge and very modern, it had at least three floors. How many students attended this place? Erza looked down and walked quickly to the office, if only she knew where it was...

And then it happened, Erza made her first mistake. She walked into someone.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" A girl with light brown hair and glasses yelled.

"S-Sorry..." Erza uttered.

"Wait, who the heck are you?" The girl questioned. Suddenly, more girls crowded around.

"I'm new..." Erza gulped.

"Hi new!" A girl with short white hair chimed in playfully.

The other girls giggled, Erza just felt extremely uncomfortable.

"I meant your name." The first girl said, she sounded irritated.

"I- My name is Erza."

"Erza? I'll see you later girls, I'm going to take Erza here to the office!" A girl with long white hair told them. "I'm Mira!"

Erza nodded and the other girls waved as Mira began to walk away, Erza following awkwardly.

"Ignore Evergreen, she's nicer than she acts..." Mira said, but Erza just looked confused. "She's the one who had glasses on!"

Erza nodded.

"And the girl who called you new, that was my younger sister - Lisanna."

Erza now knew the names of three people, she wasn't sure what she thought of them.

"Ahh, here we are! The school will look after you now. Be sure to come and find me later!" Mira smiled and with that, she was gone.

Erza wasn't quite sure what was going to happen, but she was ready to face it.

Her form class (the place where pupils first got registered) consisted of mostly new faces, but there were some she recognised. The girls from earlier and the blue haired boy. Erza was introduced as being new and the form tutor advised the class to help her out during the first weeks. She had sat at the back and tried to avoid people, the concept of making friends was scary and she saw no point. Erza was at school to learn, not make friends. The first bell went and she saw that her first lesson of the school year would be English. Good, she loved reading.

"Hey, Erza?" A blonde haired girl asked.

"Yes?" Erza responded.

"I'm Lucy and I have English with you next, so I'll take you there!" Lucy offered.

"Okay, thank you very much." Erza replied formally.

"One thing to note about lessons here, we are given a 'seating plan', which means that you don't get a choice of where you sit." Lucy explained.

Erza nodded, so it wouldn't be as easy to isolate herself after all...

The English classroom was set out in a few tables of four. The class was stood at the back of the room, waiting to be seated. The sighs of relief and distress could be heard as people were sorted.

Erza was sat next to the blue haired boy and opposite her was a pink haired boy and Lucy, who seemed very irritated.

"Aww Jellal, I'm so happy look!" The pink haired boy pointed to Lucy. "I'm sat next to a future author! English will be easy!"

"You will not copy off me Natsu! Do you hear!" Lucy demanded.

"I only meant that you could help me..." Nastu faked a pout which made Lucy grin, until she realised that she was grinning and her face returned to a scowl.

"So, red head, who are you?" Natsu asked.

"I'm Erza." She told him and the blue haired boy turned to her with a brief expression of shock. She turned to him and their eyes met and rested on each other's for too long, before they both turned away in embarrassment.

"My name is Jellal." The blue haired boy told her, without looking at her.

Lucy looked between them suspiciously.

"Do you two know each other?" Lucy asked.

"Well-"

"I just moved here, remember?" Erza reminded her.

"Of course..." Lucy agreed.

Finally, everyone was seated and the class were told that they would be reading and learning about a midsummer night's dream. Everyone was leant a copy and Erza was secretly very happy, she loved the play and had seen it acted out twice in Onibus.

Throughout the course of the day, Erza met many new people in lessons. Lucy had introduced Erza to her two best friends : Levy and Juvia. Erza had been spending most of the day with them. The four girls were sat on the grass at lunchtime when Juvia made a noise of disgust.

"What is it Juvia?" Levy asked.

"More like who is it..." Juvia was looking at a crowd of people and the other three turned their heads.

The boys were playing football (soccer) and three girls were making their way onto the pitch. To describe them, short skirts, buttons undone, loose ties...

"Okay Erza, time to educate you on what matters." Lucy began.

"You see that one? That's Sherry Blendy. She is definitely one of the ditziest girls you will ever encounter." Levy began.

"That one with the long white hair, that's Angel Sorano." Juvia scowled at the girl. "She has probably dated more guys than anyone else in school, her latest victim : Gray Fullbuster."

"And Minerva Orlando... Have you ever heard of Satan? She is basically the reincarnation of the devil itself. She uses people to get what she wants and doesn't care who gets hurt in the process." Lucy explained.

Erza watched them curiously. The boys stopped playing football and went to talk to the girls. Juvia was glaring at Angel, who had pulled Gray into a kiss and she even snapped a pen in anger. Erza turned to her and Juvia just shrugged innocently. Lucy and Levy were clearly used to this sort of thing. Erza noticed Jellal ruffle his hair and then walk over to the group that they were watching. He looked bored.

"Erza, some advice..." Levy started.

"Whatever you do, don't get involved with them."

"We call them the plastics, because they are fake and we can all see through them. We also happen to like Mean Girls." Juvia told her with a wink.

Erza made a mental note to watch mean girls, but if these three nice girls hated 'the plastics' there must be a good reason, but she had yet to see it.

If she had learnt one thing today, it was that school was certainly going to be an interesting adventure.


	2. Chapter 2

So I have decided that I will post a new chapter every Sunday! I'll try my best to keep up with the writing and posting. Thank you to the people who have commented already! I'm still trying to figure out this website but I'm sure I'll get there properly soon. Anyway, enjoy!

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 **•On the roof•**

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Erza's first few days had gone quickly, she had come out of her shell and actually made friends. She spent most of her time with Lucy, Levy and Juvia, but she talked to other people in class. Nobody had given her trouble yet and she hoped that it would stay the same. Her little group seemed largely unnoticed by most other people in school, so trouble didn't come to them willingly. School wasn't as bad as she thought and being friends with people wasn't too bad either. She had fun and laughed a lot more than she ever had done before. Erza was hopeful for this school year.

It was Monday of her second week and Erza was walking to her usual table at lunch.

"Hey!" Someone called. Erza turned her head and saw that the one who called her had been Minerva Orlando. Erza start to feel sick.

"I don't seem to recognise you, are you new?" Minerva asked her.

"Yes..."

"Sit down!" Sherry smiled sweetly.

Hesitantly, Erza sat and waited.

"So how come you're new here?" Angel questioned.

"I was homeschooled, but my... Parents... Got new jobs in Magnolia." Erza told them.

"Wow that is so cool! Homeschooled!" Minerva said sarcastically and then laughed, Sherry and Angel joined in while Erza just smiled awkwardly.

"Did you know that you're really pretty?" Minerva smiled.

"Uhh... Thanks?"

"Do you think we're pretty?" Sherry said.

"I guess?" Erza tried.

Angel and Sherry exchanged a strange look.

"Girls." Minerva pulled the other two closer and they began whispering.

"Okay Erza, we have decided to offer you a chance to hang out with us. Just note we never ask anyone to hang out with us." Minerva offered.

Erza gulped. "Well my friends-"

"Cool! It's settled then! We're going to skip maths tomorrow with the guys, so you can come." Minerva winked.

Erza stood up with her lunch and said goodbye and headed to the table with Lucy, Levy and Juvia on.

The three girls were intrigued and also a little apprehensive to why the plastics would take an interest in Erza. She told them all of the details... Apart from skipping maths.

Erza had finally found use for a mobile phone, other than keeping contact with her parents, she now had friends to text. Not much individually but there was a group chat which she contributed to on the odd occasion. It was named 'Fairy Squad'. To sum up her friends... Lucy was obsessed with writing and all things geeky, Levy was obsessed with books and all things academic and Juvia was obsessed with Gray Fullbuster. The fairy squad was addicted to tumblr. They were constantly talking about fandoms and memes and Erza had to try and keep up. She had read many of the books and watched many of the movies that they talked about, so it wasn't too difficult. Similar interests it what made it so easy to connect with these girls.

They all had their own talents. Lucy could write amazingly, Levy could draw very well and Juvia was a swimmer. Erza had yet to find something she generally enjoyed.

-Fairy Squad-

Juvia: I can't wait for the swimming season to begin again!

Lucy: Oh that reminds me... Netball!

Levy: Please no!

Erza: Netball?

Lucy: Yes! Last year me and Juvia were on the netball team, but Levy refused to join... Erza! Why don't you go to the trial, it's on Thursday.

Juvia: Levy used to watch us play all the time :')

Levy: I have to admit, you both play well. Maybe you'd be good at netball Erza!

Erza: I suppose I won't know until I try... Sure I'll do it.

Lucy: Yay! I can't wait until Thursday!

Erza was nervous as she went into school the next day. Tuesday. The day that she was supposed to be skipping maths with the plastics. What was the point in skipping an important class to spend time with those girls? She had good friends. Perhaps it was the fact that they said 'the guys' would be joining them. Perhaps Erza had noticed a certain boy with them sometimes... Who knows why she decided to do it. But, she went to the meeting place that they had told her (behind the sports hall) and surprisingly a group of people were waiting there. Honestly, Erza had suspected a set up. Immediately, Angel saw her.

"Look who's here! Hey Erza!" Angel smiled and everyone turned around.

Erza saw three other girls there that she didn't notice and the 'popular' boys.

"Hello Erza, let me introduce you to everyone." Minerva began. "You know Angel and Sherry of course. These three are Flare, Ultear and Meredy." The three girls smiled and Erza noted that Meredy seemed very cheerful. "These losers are Sting, Rogue, Natsu, Gray, Lyon, Gajeel and Jellal."

The boys nodded in her direction, but Jellal avoided looking at her.

Minerva pulled the good looking blond boy closer to her and began to kiss him passionately. Erza's eyes widened. She supposed they were a couple and began to wonder what it would be like.

"So, we're gonna go to that new place you found Sting?" Minerva asked in a flirty voice.

"Yeah, everyone follow me but be quiet... There's still classes on." Sting winked.

The group followed Sting, Erza trailing behind. She had made friends with Gray and Natsu (who argued all the time, to be honest Erza thought they were enemies rather than friends and already got annoyed with them on an occasion).

"So Erza, how come you're with us?" Gray asked.

"Minerva invited me." Erza shrugged.

Natsu shuddered. "I'm surprised you came..."

"Well I am new here, I may as well try new things. I've never been to school before remember." Erza explained.

Gray nodded his head, but Natsu was frowning.

"I've seen you hanging around with that Looney girl though. Surely that's better than this?" Natsu wondered.

Erza rolled her eyes. "She's called Lucy, you sit next to her in English which we have nearly every day! How can you not know her name?"

"His brain is fried, that's why." Gray snickered.

"Shut up, you perv!" Natsu growled.

"How am I a perv, dumbass!" Gray retaliated.

"Look down." Natsu told him. Erza looked too.

Grays shirt had somehow disappeared. However, this was not a one off occurrence. Gray had a stripping habit. No, it is not a normal thing. And no, he wasn't the only one with this habit. His adoptive brother Lyon also had it. They blamed their adoptive mother Ur, who also happened to be the actual mother of Ultear. Luckily, Ultear didn't strip (or unlucky for some of the pervy guys at the school). To say the least the family was complicated, but the three 'siblings' got along well... Most of the time...

The group were climbing a ladder leading up the to the roof of the main school building. Erza had an uneasy feeling about it, but this may be a normal thing to do in school. Who knows? Certainly not her. Well, she didn't recall Harry, Hermione and Ron ever following rules and they did just fine... Well they survived in the end, didn't they?

Natsu started laughing. "Hey Erza I can see up your skirt!"

Erza turned as red as a tomato and kicked his head from above. Why did she not think of going last up the ladders?! Sometimes she could be so silly. But it was only Natsu, as far as she could tell he was a good person and wouldn't make fun of her out of a joking context. And besides, he had pink hair!

When they were finally all on the roof, Erza was astounded at the sight. It was a small hangout with sofas and a canopy to shelter it from the rain.

"Cool place." Jellal spoke out first.

Erza just looked at the place.

"So what are we doing here then?" Gajeel asked.

"Well... We brought these!" Sherry giggled holding up a bag.

"Uh, Sherry... You know we can't see what's in the bag..." Lyon told her.

She just giggled and pulled some things out of the bag : a portable speaker with a docking station, bottles of something, a lot of sweets and balloons.

"What's all this for?" Rogue asked in a monotone voice.

"Why a party of course." Angel told everyone, making a grand gesture with her arms.

Sherry set up the docking station and connected her phone to it and soon One Direction was blasting out of the speakers, Erza wasn't too thrilled about the choice in music. She threw balloons to everyone to blow up and everyone did. Erza blew up 5 balloons and threw them on the floor of the roof.

The other girls started dancing and Meredy came and grabbed Erza's hands and dancing with her in exaggerated movements. Erza was laughing and so were the boys. Ultear took two balloons and threw them at her brothers, starting a balloon fight. Gray, Natsu and Gajeel were using this as an opportunity to fight and show who was best. Erza was bopping balloons up with Meredy and Ultear. She had to admit that she liked these girls. Jellal hit a balloon at Erza and she grinned and hit one back. Everyone was laughing and hitting each other with balloons, except Minerva, Angel, Sherry and Flare. Instead, they were rolling there eyes.

The four girls began to whisper.

"What is going on. This is supposed to be a cool party, not a childish party." Minerva hissed.

"We should be dancing instead of playing with the balloons. They were supposed to be for decoration!" Sherry frowned.

"This isn't right. Gray is my boyfriend, we should be making out but instead he's with the guys." Angel complained.

"Yeah they're all ruining it." Flare chimed in.

"Oh shut up Flare, we only let you hang out with us because you have nobody else. We were hoping that Erza would be a good replacement for you, but she's so uncool." Minerva snapped.

"Yeah Flare, you're obsessed with us. Get a life!" Angel laughed cruelly.

Flare kicked the docking station and it broke.

"You bitch! That was a present from my cousin and he's fighting in a war now!" Sherry shouted.

Everyone turned their attention to the scene and Flare stormed off and headed to the ladder. The others walked to the edge and saw Flare climbing down quickly. Then something terrible happened about halfway. She slipped.

Meredy squealed and Erza's eyes widened in shock. It wasn't a fatal fall, but it was enough to break a few bones. Erza began to climb down quickly and Jellal followed, Ultear and Meredy came next followed by Natsu and Gray. When she finally got to the bottom, Flare was unconscious. Erza immediately pulled out her phone and called for an ambulance. Her adoptive mother had taught her this as she was a nurse and thought it was important to know how to contact emergency services.

"What the hell did they do to her?" Jellal asked, with a hint of anger in his voice.

"I'm not sure... I didn't see..." Erza replied, leaning down closer to Flare. She turned her over and saw a little blood coming out of her head and grimaced.

"Blood?" Meredy squealed when she got down. The thing about Meredy was, she was an extremely sweet person, but she acted was also very squeamish. It was for this reason, that she fainted. Jellal caught her and Ultear rolled her eyes.

"At this rate we'll all be needing ambulances." Ultear joked.

At that point, they heard the ambulance arriving at the school gates and headteacher Dreyar came out with a shocked look on his normally calm face. Jellal ran over to him and explained what had happened.

Then the bell went. At the exact wrong time. Pupils started flooding out of the buildings and when they saw the ambulance which was driving towards the sports hall, they ran to follow it. Erza caught the eye of Lucy who had a confused expression and then Juvia and Levy came out behind her. Erza mouthed that she would text them and Mr Dreyar demanded that all of the pupils who went onto the roof went to his office at once.

Great, it was only the start of her second week and Erza was already involved in trouble.

Just wonderful.


	3. Chapter 3

And another chapter! I like the fact that I haven't lost motivation for this fanfiction yet x3 Anyway and don't have anything else to say but enjoy!

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 ** _•_ And so it begins•**

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The group filed into the office, excluding Flare and Meredy who were recovering and waited for Mr Dreyar to come in.

Minerva was whispering to Angel and Sherry and they seemed to have a plan.

"Everyone, just go along with what we say and we'll get out of trouble." Minerva told them, just before Mr Dreyar came in.

"What were you brats thinking?!" He demanded.

They all stood in silence. Erza had to admit that she was terrified.

"Well? Are you all ignorant or stupid?" Dreyar asked them.

"Well sir..." Minerva began. He turned to her.

"Go on."

"Miss Scarlet told us that she had an idea to throw a party on the roof... Look in her bag sir... She even brought alcohol. She said she used to do all of this at her old school." Minerva said in an innocent voice.

Erza tensed. Did she just hear that correctly? Maybe she was imagining it.

"She's telling the truth sir!" Sherry admitted, looking downwards with a very sad expression.

"We told her we didn't want the alcohol to mess with our livers!" Angel 'confessed'.

"I have heard all I need to hear. Everyone leave except for Erza."

Everyone left, before anyone got the chance to stand up for her and the plastics had smiles plastered on their faces.

"What the hell did you lie for?" Natsu spat out at Minerva.

"To save your backs. Come on she's new, none of us care about her! She's a loser, a nobody!" Minerva smirked.

"She's a nice person!" Gray defended.

"Who cares, babe? There are lots of nice people!" Angel crooned.

"Don't call me babe!" Gray spat.

"You three are pretty damn heartless, aren't ya?" Gajeel added.

"Ugh whatever, you three are losers too anyway!" Minerva mocked.

"Jellal?" Natsu asked their friend for support.

"Just get over it Natsu, who is she really?" Jellal replied in a cold voice and then walked away without another word.

Everyone looked at him go with a brief flash of shock on their faces. Angel was the first to recover.

"Wow. I never noticed just how hot he was!" She giggled.

"Oh shut up Angel." Gray yelled. "Leave me the hell alone and I'm not your boyfriend."

Natsu let out a small sound of glee. "Come on guys, let's go."

Gray, Gajeel and Lyon began to follow him straight away, it was a miracle that they actually listened to Natsu for once, but Sting and Rogue were hesitant, (well mostly Sting, but Rogue would never leave him).

"Whatever." Natsu said while shaking his head and the guys left.

Minerva scoffed and headed away in the other direction, the other four following her like a lost puppy. Ultear just sighed at the scene and trailed after her brothers.

Meanwhile, in Mr Dreyars office, Erza was preparing to defend herself.

"Sir... I offer my deepest apologies, but I can assure you-"

"Save it, I knew she was lying from the moment she mentioned your previous school." He admitted. "One thing you should learn, every lie has a flaw. It may not always be obvious at first like this one, but there is always a flaw."

Erza was astounded, how was this man so sharp that he picked that up straight away?

"Thank you sir I..." Erza was cut off again.

"Don't worry miss Scarlet, I want you to feel at home here. I know about your previous records and I expect you to do well. Just make sure you find the right friends and they will become like a family to you."

Erza nodded and then a thought occurred.

"May I ask you something?" She questioned him.

Mr Dreyar replied with 'yes'.

"Won't I have to face punishment? You need to blame someone as there was a casualty who may have been seriously hurt..." Erza wondered.

"Don't worry about that, I know who is to blame, but I will face the consequences. Youth is to have fun, leave all the paperwork to the adults." He smiled at her and she smiled back.

Erza had grown very fond of her headmaster, in just a few minutes. He was wise and fair and those qualities were very important in her eyes.

As she left the office, she could form one clear thought.

Never trust the plastics. Always trust the fairies. They were right about the plastics, after all.

Once she got home the first thing Erza did was type a huge paragraph on the group chat to explain the day to the other three. Erza expected them to be mad at her for hanging out with them, but instead they were sympathetic and angry at Minerva.

-Fairy Squad-

Juvia: I really hate Angel. And Minerva and Sherry. What is with them! You've only just joined this school and they're already targeting you!

Levy: I suppose evil never sleeps... Or takes sympathy when choosing victims.

Erza: How did you know that they were so bad anyway?

Juvia: Well most of the school knows they're horrible but the things they have done in the past.

Juvia: And what they did to Lucy!

Lucy: Juvia don't. Please...

Juvia: Juvia is sorry.

Levy: See Lu, she spoke in third person. With Juvia that means double sorry!

The conversation slowly died out leaving Erza wondering what exactly it was that they did to Lucy. She new she shouldn't pry. It was obviously something in Lucy's past that haunted her. Everyone has something in their past that they would rather forget, Erza thought. She also thought it strange that it was only Tuesday. She had been at the school for 7 days and already so much had happened. Mira had welcomed her into the school, the fairies had welcomed her into their friendship like it had been forever, she had met and been stung by the plastics, made other new friends and she had been taught truly important lessons from her headteacher. Before she got too carried away, Erza had to remind herself that she was 'The new girl' and that would be what defined her unless she stood out in some way, which was highly likely. It was probably also the reason why she had made so many new 'friends', people taking sympathy on her for having nobody. But with some, it didn't seem that way at all. Erza generally felt like she belonged here, negative thoughts couldn't change that feeling.

Wednesday had been surprisingly uneventful for Erza. Everyone else avoided her apart from the fairy squad. Well, she did have a brief conversation with Mira and her group, until the death glare from Evergreen had gotten too unbearable so she left. Erza did all of her homework and had agreed to meet Lucy, Juvia and Levy in the sports hall before school so they could teach her the basics of netball before their trial for the team, which would be after school. Erza spent a while watching YouTube videos and researching more about netball, before her parents turned off the Internet at 9pm, which was her cue to go to sleep.

It was early in the morning when her alarm woke her up. It was still dark outside and the birds were singing. Erza quickly got dressed and double checked that she had everything ready in her school bag. The most important thing about to today was to bring her pe kit. She had her shirt, shorts and new nike trainers. Yes, she was ready.

She wolved down the pancakes and syrup that she had made and then left for school. She walked now, it was only on the first day that she was given a lift. School was only ten minutes away and Erza had left an hour earlier than usual. She was serious about this practice for the netball team trials. The fairies were waiting for Erza outside the sports hall, Lucy and Juvia were already in their PE kit.

"Come on Erza, get changed quickly and then we'll have more time!" Juvia beamed.

Erza nodded and went into the changing room, she was out five minutes later.

Lucy explained that they had already asked the PE teachers if they could use the sports hall for a while and were given permission. Levy went and sat against the wall and pulled out Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and began to read.

For the first few minutes, the three girls were throwing the ball to each other, while stood in a triangle formation. Lucy and Juvia decided that Erza could catch and throw just fine, so she had the basics.

"Okay now we should play piggy in the middle to see if you can intercept..." Lucy decided.

Lucy went in the middle first and after just three passes to each other, Lucy intercepted Juvia and Erza's throw. It was Juvias throw that got intercepted, so she went in the middle. Erza and Lucy managed a few quick passes, but when Erza threw it too high... Juvia jumped up and caught it.

Now Erza was in the middle and Lucy threw it. Erza hit it to the left in the air and it was heading straight for Levy. A flash of dark appeared and caught it. Levy looked up from her book in shock and saw a boy, Gajeel Redfox holding the ball in his hands.

"Show off!" Natsu yelled at him.

The four girls had been too busy focusing on their game and reading to notice that the boys had come into the sports hall earlier and were watching them.

"What are you doing here?" Lucy asked the general group.

"We always come in here." Gray replied nonchalantly.

"Oh." Was all Lucy said.

Levy was still looking at Gajeel, a red tint on her cheeks. She had said thank you and he finally walked back over to his group. He threw the ball back to the three girls and Juvia caught it.

She felt a brief period of sadness. Juvia and Gajeel were childhood best friends. Gajeel used to be cruel and cold, while Juvia used to be extremely shy and people either avoided her in general or were cruel to her. The pair were good for each other, Juvia brought out Gajeels nicer side and Gajeel could at least draw words out of Juvia. Ever since they got older though, they barely ever spoke. Why would they? Gajeel was in the popular group and Juvia and her friends were next to invisible.

"Yo, Erza. How are you feeling after yesterday?" Natsu asked her, he and Gray walking closer. Jellal and Lyon stayed at the other end of the sports hall and Sting and Rogue were nowhere to be seen.

"I'm okay. Mr Dreyar didn't believe their story." Erza explained.

"That old man really is sharp." Gray mumbled.

"So what are you doing here anyway?" Natsu asked.

Lucy and Juvia just stood in the same place awkwardly, wondering when Erza had become such good friends with the two boys.

"It's the netball team trials after school and since Lucy and Juvia were on the team last year, there's a good chance that they'll get on it again and they told me to try." Erza told the pair.

"That's weird, I don't remember seeing them around the sports side of the school too often. But then again I've never watched a game of netball." Gray thought aloud.

"Juvia is on the swimming team though and she's very good from what I've heard..." Erza said.

"Well I have seen her there... My sister Ultear is also on the girls swimming team and from what I have seen of Juvia, she very is good..." Gray trailed off.

Juvia just turned a very bright shade of red and Erza felt a small victory.

"Hey Erza, we need to see if you can shoot!" Lucy interrupted.

"Of course, bye Gray, Natsu. I'll see you in class."

"See ya Erza." Natsu said and Gray waved as they both walked to the other end of the sports hall.

Juvia was still in a state of shock and Lucy just dragged her and Erza to the furthest netball net from the boys.

"You're on speaking terms with them?" Lucy asked Erza, the shock clear in her voice.

"Yes... Those two are very nice and they were there yesterday during the incident." Erza expressed.

"Gray... Noticed... Juvia?" Juvia said in a daze.

Lucy smirked. "Well maybe they're not as bad as I thought, plus Juvia may finally have the means to talk to Gray."

Lucy snatched the ball off Juvia and threw it at her, she caught it immediately and was snapped out of her daze.

"Now let's see if you can shoot, Erza." Lucy grinned.


	4. Chapter 4

The most recent chapter I wrote was so fun! For now Erza is the main focus of the story, but soon other characters are going to be much more important I just need to do it slowly!

* * *

 **•Netball•**

* * *

Erza was too excited for after school to focus properly on her lessons. The girls had discovered that Erza was a decent shooter, Lucy had advised her to try for more of an attack position. In maths, Erza's seat was next to Gray and he had to keep reminding her to stay focused.

"Okay here's a deal, if you finish these 10 questions before the lesson ends, I'll come watch the netball trials. Since you're so excited..." Gray bargained. To be honest, he just needed to make sure he had the answers sort of right. Erza was okay at maths. Plus, this would give him an excuse to see how good that girl, Juvia was at netball.

Erza nodded enthusiastically and began to race through the questions. It was strange, she felt like she had known Gray and Natsu forever. She had a sense of nostalgia the first time she saw them fight, but it was entirely plausible that she had seen them at least once as she found out that they had both always lived in Magnolia and compared to others places, it was not too big.

At dinner time Erza told the group of her deal with Gray. She had indeed finished all of the maths questions, so he had agreed to come and watch the trials. Juvia was extremely nervous but also glad.

"Now I have a chance to impress him!" Juvia grinned menacingly.

The others just laughed and rolled their eyes.

"You should probably focus more on actually getting on the team, Juvia!" Levy reminded her.

"She's right..." Erza agreed.

Juvia just carried on smiling.

The girls talked strategy and although Levy didn't play, she still knew a lot about the game itself.

"Last year the team did quite well. There's a netball league us and we came fifth out of everyone in fiore." Lucy smiled with pride.

"The school team is called the Magnolia Fairies. That's where we got the idea for the name Fairy Squad!" Levy admitted.

Erza smiled at the thought. She had always loved fairies.

Her last lesson of the day had been English. She was enjoying the reading of a midsummer night's dream, but something was troubling her. Jellal was awfully cold towards her. Maybe the friendliness of her first day was an act and this was what he was normally like. After the class had taken it in turns to read out loud a bit of the section they were on, there was ten minutes of the lesson left.

"So, next lesson you will be put in groups to act out a scene and the lesson after that we will perform it to the class." The teacher told them.

There was mixed reactions from the class, but Erza was fairly excited. It seemed like fun!

With that announcement they were left to talk and pack their things into their bags.

"So Erza. I'll be watching your netball trial with Gray tonight!" Natsu told her.

Lucy turned to him. "No way! Not you!"

"Come on, I won't distract you! You won't even notice I'm there." He grinned.

"Fine..." Lucy muttered.

Jellal was stood silently with his arms folded.

"Are you coming too, Jellal?" Natsu asked.

"No." He said, a little too quickly.

"Why not?" Natsu whined.

"I have to do that huge History essay."

"Oh... I'm glad I don't do history!" Natsu joked.

Jellal smiled a little, but Natsu was concerned. His friend wasn't the same this school year. Something had changed.

As soon as the bell went Lucy, Juvia and Erza ran to the changing rooms. Levy told them that she had a question for the English teacher but would be there to watch them, so they should go ahead without her. The three girls got changed into their PE kits and put their hair up. Lucy had her hair in two ponytails, while Erza and Juvia only had their hair in one.

The girls walked into the sports hall, which had quite a few other girls in already. The seats for guests had many people, Lucy thought there had never been that many before.

Levy waved at them from a spot on her own, on the second row. Suddenly, two boys went and sat beside her on each side. Erza wondered who they were and asked Lucy.

"They're Jet and Droy. They were Levy's best friends before we knew her and now they're all still pretty close. It's pretty obvious that they both have a crush on her too, but she's not interested." Lucy explained.

Erza nodded. Again, a feeling of knowing waved through her, but she ignored it.

Natsu and Gray were talking to Mira and Lisanna, who were both in their PE kits.

"Mira and Lisanna were on the team last year." Juvia filled Erza in. "They were nicknamed 'The Shooting Strauss's', because they played goal attack and goal shooter."

"Yeah they're amazing at shooting..." Lucy said in awe.

"That boy arguing with Evergreen is the brother of Lisanna and Mira, he's called Elfman." Juvia said.

"Well I am certainly learning a lot here, that's for sure." Erza decided.

After about fifteen minutes of waiting around and being told lots of new information about the people around the sports hall, one of the PE teachers : Mrs Connell came into the room.

Lucy told Erza that her husband was also a PE teacher here, which Erza thought was quite sweet.

"Okay girls gather round!" Mrs Connell shouted, so everyone could hear. All of the people that weren't competing went to find seats and it became clear that a lot of people had come to watch.

"Let's see, how many of you are here. Everyone pass this paper around and write your name so I know who is trialing."

After a few minutes, everyone had written their name and Mrs Connell made a squeal of delight.

"Oh this is just perfect! There is exactly fourteen of you! Know what that means?" She beamed at the group of girls.

"Enough for two teams?" Mira guessed.

"Exactly! Okay girls, the bibs are in two separate piles on the floor. Split yourselves into two groups of seven. This years trial is going to be a full game."

Erza, Lucy and Juvia went on a team together.

After they had all gone onto a team they all decided what positions to play. On the blue team with Erza, Juvia and Lucy was Meredy, Kagura, Millianna and Beth. Erza didn't know the last three, but this was a good time to get to know them. Lucy and Juvia were the only ones who were on the team last year, so took their old positions. Lucy with goal defence and Juvia with wing defence. Meredy was chosen to be centre and Erza decided to be wing attack.

On the red team it was Lisanna, Mira, Evergreen, Cana, Yukino, Kinana and Laki. Cana was wing defence, so that's who Erza would be marking.

They all got into their positions on the court. Mrs Connell did a coin toss to see who would have centre first and the red team won.

Evergreen was throwing and catching the ball at centre waiting for the first whistle to go and all of the other girls were waiting eagerly for the game to begin. The whistle went and Evergreen threw the ball straight to Mira who had gotten in front of the girl marking her - Lucy. Mira quickly threw the ball to her sister Lisanna who took a turn, so that she was facing the net. Lisanna prepared to shoot and then did, getting the ball in first time. The blue team all let out sighs, the passing of the red team was extremely quick. But now they knew what they were up against.

Now it was the blues turn for centre and Meredy threw the ball to Erza. Meredy ran forwards and Erza passed it back to her, then Meredy passed the ball to Beth. Yukino nearly intercepted, but Beth was a little too quick. Now the hard part was getting the ball into the D so they could shoot. Beth passed the ball back to Erza, so Millianna had time time to get in front of Laki and Erza quickly passed to Millianna. Beth went into the D to aid Millianna who attempted to shoot. She missed but Beth jumped up and caught the ball, shooting and scoring.

1-1, let the game begin.

Evergreen started again by throwing to Mira, but before Mira could throw the ball to her sister, Juvia intercepted it and threw it to Lucy. The blue team got it back to the side that they were shooting from and Millianna scored.

Now the blues were winning 2-1. Evergreen shouted 'Let's get serious Reds' and from that second on the game got more intense. Everyone was serious about the game and trying to intercept every throw that went. There was a lot of running around. At one point by 5-4 to the red team, Meredy accidentally threw the ball so far that it went 'out' earning a throw for the Reds. Evergreen took it and tried to throw the ball to Cana, but Erza intercepted and got the ball back into the shooting zone for the blues. Beth scored and it was now 5-5 with not long left of the game to go. Lucy and Juvia defended the opposing goal with their life and Erza was running around like a madwoman intercepting everything she could. By the time Mrs Connell blew the final whistle it was 5-5. She congratulated the girls and told them that she would post the team on the PE notice board for tomorrow morning.

Erza, Lucy and Juvia made their way to the supporters stand to go and talk to Levy. "You three were awesome!" Natsu yelled at them and the girls smiled at him. Gray grinned at Juvia, who just turned away and blushed madly.

Levy came down and hugged them all.

"You three were amazing! I've never seen such an intense game and it was only the trial!"

The girls grinned and began to walk away towards the changing rooms to get their things.

"Hey wait!" Natsu called after them.

The four girls turned around. "We're going to go to McDonalds with Miras group if you guys wanna come?"

Despite her being the newest in their little friendship group, the other three looked to Erza for the answer.

"We'd love to come, just let us get our things, okay?" Erza spoke on behalf of the others.

They got their bags from the changing room and Erza texted her parents : 'Going to hang out with some friends I'll be home later.'

It ended up being a large group including Erza, Lucy, Juvia, Levy, Natsu, Gray, Gajeel, Lyon, Mira, Lisanna, Elfman, Evergreen, Cana and Yukino. They found a big table at McDonald's and all went and ordered separately.

Erza was observing them all, she noticed that Lisanna kept looking at Natsu and flirting with him, but he was oblivious. Elfman and Evergreen seemed to be arguing again and the boys decided to see who could eat the most. It was fun and Erza's group got to know more people, although it turned out that most people knew each other from their childhood.

Erza ate her chips between talking and listening. Mira, Elfman and Lisanna had to go home first. Evergreen expressed her happiness at Elfman leaving but Yukino and Cana just told her to stop being in denial. Those three decided to leave next, saying it was nice to spend time with everyone. Now, it was only the boys and the fairies.

Levy and Gajeel were deep in conversation and the others watched them. It wasn't clear whether they were agreeing or disagreeing about whatever they were talking about. Meanwhile, Lyon seemed to be smitten with Juvia. He was blabbering about love at first sight and scolding himself for never noticing someone so beautiful before. Juvia was blushing, but seemed uncomfortable. Gray was yelling at Lyon for being too forward and scaring her and so he told everyone that they had to leave and dragged Lyon away. Natsu was talking to Erza and Lucy, until the scene with Lyon which made him laugh until he was almost on the floor.

Finally, the others decided it was time to go home and do homework and whatnot.

On the group chat, everyone was discussing the after school hangout at McDonald's. It was certainly a new experience for the fairies, but it would not be the last now that people finally notice them. Erza had changed their group for the better, that much was for sure.


End file.
